Very short stories to delight and entertain

Menu

End of an Age

Ryan stared at his computer screen, thinking. He frowned, considered, then stood.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Ryan said. “I have an important pronouncement.”

He waited while his coworkers and superiors pulled themselves away from their computers, exited their offices, and gathered to listen.

When he had everyone’s attention and the room was quiet, Ryan said, “We have reached the end of the information age. It’s been a fast death, this age, but truly, with the state of the internet, we can no longer call ourselves informed. While information is available – as was art and literacy in the middle ages – it is drowned in a sea of drivel.

“And the people sharing, spreading this drivel outweigh the spread of good ideas and intellectualism. Indeed, after crunching the numbers over the past few months, ‘How to Beat Measles Through Will Power and Alfalfa Sprouts’ so outpaced ‘Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism’ as reading material online that I think it’s safe to say we have entered a new dark age.

“Kindly remember where you were, and the things we strive for in our former educated society. Please, as we descend into chaos and anarchy, look out for your friends and neighbours.

“And remember, ladies and gentlemen, that it will end. The last age was short, not even a hundred years. Not even fifty, really. This, too, shall pass.”

Ryan sat, and his coworkers disbanded, off to think or discuss. Ryan returned to his computer and began hoarding information he thought should survive.